


You're Not OK

by FlyRobinFly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon, Everything is ok, Good Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar is Theo Raeken's Anchor, Liam is a Good Friend, M/M, More angst, Theo Raeken Needs a Hug, as far as I know anyways, everything will be ok, love in the making
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 21:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17947382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyRobinFly/pseuds/FlyRobinFly
Summary: Theo seems to experience hell all over again but Liam is there with him.





	You're Not OK

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about writing this for a long time. So I hope you like it!

“You really think asking Theo is the best idea?”

“Well, he knows the tunnels like back of his hand and he would know better than anyone if there’s anything down there that could give us any clues,” Scott explained as he and Liam left the McCall house to head to said tunnels and meet Theo and Stiles there. The alpha looked at his beta once they were in the car doubtfully. “Why? Do you think it was a bad idea?”

Liam gave a half-shrug and twitched his lips. “I just think that there might be some things down there that could… bring back memories.”

“Theo never said anything,” Scott replied, starting the car. “And we kind of need his help. The books we’re looking for could be down there and if we find them, lives could be saved.”

Liam sighed. “Right.”

~~~

“You sure he said he would be here?” Stiles asked Scott doubtfully.

“Yes, Stiles. He said ‘I’ll be there in twelve minutes-”

“Well, it’s not like the guy has a record of being a pathological liar or anything,” Stiles’ words came out dripping with sarcasm.

“It’s not like you haven’t ever lied before-”

“But what about murder?!”

“...Stiles.” Scott sighed, giving up the fight. Sometimes Stiles was impossible.

“He’s coming,” Liam said before Stiles could come up with another reason not sending Theo back into the ground was a bad idea. And sure enough, Theo’s blue Toyota Tundra was making the corner and pulling into the lot where they were parked.

Stiles looked at Liam like he was a freak. “How did you do that?”

“Let’s get going then,” Scott said grabbing Stiles and pulling him towards the entrance. The alpha knew very well that Stiles and Theo together wasn’t a good idea and it would probably be best if they were kept separate.

Liam and Theo weren’t far behind until Liam grabbed the other by the arm and looking him in the eye. “Hey,” he said earning an expectant look from Theo.

When Liam didn’t say anything further, Theo glanced ahead at Scott and Stiles making friendly conversation. “What?”

“Are you OK?” Liam asked.

Theo then looked at Liam like had grown another head. “Why?”

Liam sighed and rolled his eyes. “With going in there?” Liam pointed into the tunnels. “I know a lot of things happened to you in there, Theo. I just-”

“I’ll be fine,” Theo said pushing past him and entering the tunnels, a cold feeling ghosting through his very soul. Theo didn’t think any of this would be a problem. He didn’t really want to be there but he did want to work on making things right with the pack and doing favors like this was a good place to start.

The stench of the tunnels was all to familiar in all the wrong ways. It brought back memories of blood and pain and sheer emotional agony.

… and then numbness.

The numbness was the worst of it all.

“So how’s school coming along?” Theo asked mindlessly, maybe wanting to get his mind off of things a little.

“Fine.”

“Still captain?”

“Cocaptain.”

“Right,” Theo said as they were coming up to an oddly familiar place. “With that Nolan kid, ri…” It hit him, this place. The place where the ground practically fell out from beneath his feet and those hands, those cold, cold hands dragged him down into hell, his own personal hell.

“Yeah,” Liam said only stopping when he realized Theo was no longer at his side. He turned to find Theo reaching a shaking hand to grab a pipe attached to the wall. His eyes were… lost, glazed over, as he frantically examined the ground. “Theo?”

Nothing. Theo heard nothing.

Liam approached Theo and put a hand on his shoulder. “Theo, are you alright?”

Theo startled at the touch, shrinking back in horror, grip nearly busting the pipe at this point. He sucked in a breath and squeezed his eyes shut before replying finally. “Yeah.”

Liam examined him, taking in his body language and breathing in his scent. Liam looked around and it finally dawned on him; this was where Liam had pulled him out of the ground and where he’d been pulled into it. “Come on,” Liam said grabbing Theo’s arm again, trying to pull him forward and out of the area that was bringing him this discomfort.

Discomfort seemed like the wrong word.

Theo pulled back, resisting Liam’s guidance. It was more instinctual than anything.

“Theo, let’s move, get away from here,” Liam said urgently but still gently.

Theo didn’t budge for a second, not until he dug his claws into Liam’s arm and let him pull him down the tunnel and around the first corner. Clarity finally came a minute later, catching his breath he yanked his hand back from Liam. “Sorry,” he said as he stumbled to catch his breath. “I don’t know what that was.”

“A panic attack,” Liam said clearly annoyed with the fact that it even had to happen in the first place. “Theo, are you sure you can handle this? If you don’t want to do this we can turn around and Scott and Stiles can do this themselves, without us.”

Theo looked behind them. Just the thought of having to go back around that corner again was making him dizzy. “No. It’s ok. I can do it. I want to help you guys finds the books. I think I know where they are.”

Liam looked at Theo doubtfully before nodding. “Ok. Let’s go.”

~~~

Scott and Stiles had been far ahead of Liam and Theo, reaching the Dread Doctors’ lair before they did. When Liam and Theo arrived they were already searching the place. Well, Scott was searching and Stiles was playing with dangerous objects.

Theo said ‘don’t touch that’ three times within two minutes of arriving. Stiles wanted to touch everything that was going to end up hurting someone. And Theo only warned him the times he touched things that were going to end with him hurting someone else because, as much as Theo has changed, he isn’t going to stop Stiles from accidentally harming himself.

Theo entered a small corridor, a place he was certain he would find those books, or at least one of them, that the pack was searching for. Unfortunately, the Dread Doctors kept all of their books in this place so it would take a while.

Liam was carefully keeping an eye on Theo. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him… well, it was sort of because he didn’t trust him. But not like the rest of the pack did. He just felt like Theo wasn’t being completely honest about how being here made him feel.

“Oh. Gross,” Stiles said pulling a jar out of a random wooden box. “Liam, check this out.”

“Dude, this isn’t a feild trip. Put that back,” Liam hissed shoving at Stiles gently.

“I’m gonna go show Scott. Scott!” Stiles called out as he left Liam’s side. “What do you think it is? Is it a brain?”

“No,” said Scott. “That’s a heart, you dumbass.”

“I don’t know if that’s as gross as a brain or not.”

“So, I think I found something that might help,” Theo said stepping out of the corridor with a book in his hand. “It’s not what we’re looking for but it’s related. Unfortunately, it’s in latin.”

Stiles scoffed. “Go figure-”

“Where did you get that?” Theo said suddenly, eyeing the jar in Stiles’ hand.

“Uh-”

“How many times to I have to tell you not to touch things?” Theo said, aggression coming through in his tone and body language. He lunged forward to shove the book in Scott’s arms before he yanked the jar from Stiles and stormed away to put it back in its place, leaving the three of them alone.

Liam looked at Scott, “What did I tell you, huh?”

~~~

Theo stood there, the jar in his hand. It couldn’t be his, could it? He knew the Dread Doctors were sick enough to keep it but to keep the jar in a back, one so pristinely labeled ‘first success’... that was a whole other level of sick.

Stiles was right. It was disgusting. Everything about this was disgusting. And having that dumb thing removed didn’t help one damn bit. That heart was where all his problems started. It was why he was even born, to begin with. Something inside of him was just as sick as the Dread Doctors.

Theo had plans to return the heart to its rightful place in that box… but if it was truly his heart then didn’t he get to chose where it belonged?

Theo examined it further. There was no way to know for sure…

There, on the top of the jar, in fine barely readable lettering was the name ‘RAEKEN’.

“Ah!”

Crash!

Theo threw the jar at the far wall in a fit of rage, resentment, … sadness.

“Theo,” Liam’s voice rang in his ears. He turned to face Liam… processing what he’d just done. “Are you ok?”

Theo breathed, hunched over, shaking his head in hostility. “Stop asking,” he said firmly before he turned around and walked right out of there. Before Liam could argue, Theo approached Scott. “I remember a secret room that I was never allowed to go into. There might be something there.”

~~~

Finding the door hidden among all the brick didn’t take as long as figuring out how to open the door. Scott stepped back and sighed. “We need some tools or something.”

“I’ll be right back,” Theo said before departing from the group.

Scott hummed and looked at Liam with his hands on his hips. “Where’s Stiles?”

~~~

Theo walked into the room where the Doctors did all their experiments at. He could remember witnessing the atrocities they pulled off. He remembered pulling off some of them himself.

… he could remember being one of those atrocities.

Theo could see a child on that medical table, strapped down, three masked monsters hovering over him. He could practically feel the blade slicing open his chest and hear his own scream when they severed every valved.

Theo will never forget what it feels like to not have blood pumping through his system. His nightmares will never let him forget it.

Everything was coming back to him, flooding him with memories of screams, pleads, and curses.

Needles.

Scalples.

Saws and plyers.

Poking.

Prodding.

Pulling and piercing.

Weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Pain.

Above everything.

Pain.

Theo caught himself using the edge of the bed, breathing hard. His brain felt fuzzy and his heart was beating too fast. If Liam’s earlier diagnosis had been correct, he was having another panic attack.

Theo tried to distract himself by focusing on what he’d come for, a tool of some kind. He quickly grabbed the first thing he could find and got the hell out of there, tripping over something in the doorway. Before he reunited with the group, he made sure he seemed normal.

Calm.

Neutral.

Goal oriented.

“Thanks,” Scott said taking the shovel from Theo. Scott gave it a few tries, eventually prying open the door with Theo and Liam’s help.

Scott turned on a fluorescent light and entered with a little bit of caution. His eyes were immediately drawn to the left side fo the room; there was a shelf with all kinds of files and books and records. Theo thought about walking in before he did, forgetting Liam was behind him for a second. “Sorry,” he said stepping aside and letting Liam in and stopping him before he tried to ask again. “Don’t.”

Liam nodded as he walked in and helped Scott search the shelves. There was certainly a system there but Liam wasn’t about to figure it out on his own. He turned around to see what else this storage room held. Liam didn’t know what to call most of this stuff. There were a lot of capsules holding dead things.

“Why did they have to keep everything?” Liam asked rolling his eyes and looking back at Scott. His eye caught something though…

Someone behind Theo.

Liam’s eyes widened and his heartrate stuttered at the sight of the masked figure. His first thought was ‘Theo.’

Said thought turned around to see what Liam had been so surprised by. It happened all over again. Memories of fear. Memories of pain and helplessness.

Theo instinctually growled and extended his claws, ready to fight, ready to kill. But he could feel that power slipping away because of the fear. The fear, the terror was making him weak.

The panic was taking away the clarity and making him dizzy.

“Stiles!” Scott chided, alpha voice coming through.

Stiles took off the mask. “What?”

“That’s enough.”

Theo could make it go away this time. He felt trapped. Literally. Scott and Stiles were in the doorway and he could make a run for it. And they’d seen him shift defensively. Scott had probably noticed the way his eyes flickered and his body was shivering as he tried to breathe. The sound of Scott and Stiles arguing was powerful enough to make him stumble backwards a bit more, creating some distance but walking further into the room.

Theo felt Liam talking to him. It gave him hope.

Theo opened his eyes… when had they closed?

He saw an out of focus cylinder, green and black and grey. As it came into focus, he made out a figure. It was human at one point. A girl.

“No,” Theo said, voice pained and shaky.

Tara.

Theo felt cement hit his knees and in the same instant there were arms around him, trying to pull him up. There was the faint sound of his name being called but all he could hear was his own sobs and his sister’s pounding heart.

**~~~**

Liam pulled Theo out of that room as soon as he could but he knew that as long as Theo was in these tunnels, he wasn’t going to be ok. Scott and Stiles stayed behind to try and find anything they could that would help but Liam practically had to drag Theo out of the lair.

The further they got from it, the better Theo got. Until they came up to a familiar corner and Theo pulled away from Liam and collapsed against the wall. He began to weep again.

Liam himself needed to take a break and breathe so he sat next to Theo. “You’re not OK,” he said finally. Maybe asking it what he did wrong. Maybe Theo needed to know that he wasn’t OK. And that it was OK to not be OK.

Theo took in a shaky breath. “I know what’s around the corner… “

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Theo let out a sad laugh and grabbed Liam’s hand, squeezing it tight. “Don’t let go.”

Liam practically carried Theo through the rest of the tunnel, across the very ground that had opened up beneath him all those months ago when he’d been evil. They finally got to the exit and Theo froze at the ladder.

“Hey,” Liam said gently, pressed against Theo’s back.

“I’m not OK,” Theo said, putting a hand on a rung.

Liam smiled and put his hand near Theo’s. “I’m not OK either. And that’s OK.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
